Can anyone explain how this is the comet of the century?
Halley’s comet happens every century. That’s the baseline.
From the article:
According to EarthSky, this comet (known colloquially as Comet A3, for obvious reasons) is special, as it’s the brightest to cross our planet’s sky in 27 years, leading some to dub it the Comet of the Century.
Huh, I’m pretty sure neowise had a lower magnitude. I was in a city at the time and could see it through the light pollution at night with the naked eye. This one disappears quickly in the dark after the sunset goes towards astronomical dusk… And the moon light is also making it impossible to see. Maybe looks brighter at sunset in specific parts of the world, but at least my experience in its glory was nothing like Neowise.
Also earthsky claims magnitude -5 to -7. I don’t believe that. For context, the magnitude of Venus is about -4 and that planet outshined the comet greatly.
I saw that on one of my photos and thought it was a lens artifact!
